Spinach Salad With Cherries And Candied Cashews Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300F (you can prepare your cashews several days ahead).
• In a small saucepan, mix together cashews, sugar, and water over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
• Cook and stir for about 15 minutes, or until mixture crystallizes.
• Spread the cashews onto parchment paper on a baking sheet (season with salt now if needed).
• Bake 15 minutes, then stir mixture.
• Bake 15 minutes more, then cool cashews before storing in an airtight container (until needed).
• Place spinach into salad bowl.
• Top with hard cooked eggs, mushrooms, dried fruit, and candied cashews.
• Juice the lemon.
• Whisk together the lemon juice, salt, pepper, dijon mustard, and sugar, adjusting sugar to taste.
• Slowly add olive oil and whisk until dressing emulsifies.
• Serve dressing over salad as desired.

Steps:

• To make the vinaigrette, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, honey, sesame seeds, garlic, and salt and pepper, to taste, in a bowl. Gradually whisk in the oil. Set aside.
• To make the curried cashews, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• On a baking sheet, toast the cashews until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the melted butter, rosemary, curry powder, brown sugar, salt, and cayenne in a bowl. Add the toasted cashews while they are still hot and toss with a rubber spatula so they are thoroughly coated with the spices and butter. Leave the oven on to cook the bacon.
• Put the bacon on a baking sheet, place it in the oven, and cook until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the bacon from the pan and cut the slices into 1-inch pieces. Keep the bacon warm.
• In a large bowl, combine the spinach, frisee, red onions, and sliced pears. Toss with enough vinaigrette to coat everything well.
• Divide the salad among 6 plates. Garnish each salad with pieces of warm bacon and spiced cashews. Set a grape cluster on the side of each salad.
• The bacon can be cooked ahead, stored in the refrigerator, and reheated. The cashews can be cooked early in the day and stored at room temperature. The vinaigrette can be stored refrigerated, tightly covered, for several days.

Steps:

• In a small heavy saucepan, combine the first 5 ingredients; stir gently to moisten all the sugar. Cook over medium-low heat, gently swirling pan occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Cover; bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook 1 minute. Uncover pan; continue to boil and gently swirl pan until syrup turns a deep amber color, about 2-3 minutes. Immediately remove from heat and carefully stir in walnuts until evenly coated. Spread onto foil to cool completely. Break into pieces., In a large bowl, combine spinach, strawberries and cucumber. In a small bowl, whisk the first 6 vinaigrette ingredients. Drizzle over salad; toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese and walnuts. Serve immediately.